Tag Archives: RB Lite

Lesson #134

Setup – System Preferences function

Receivables System Preferences

Set the subject line for payment receipts. Choose a statement template based on your company’s payment options, and set other statement options.

Payment Receipt

Enter default text and RB data fields into the subject line for receipts you send clients for payments received. (Set up receipt forms in Form Templates.)

Statement

Before sending statements to clients, choose your default statement template plus other invoice options, and customize the email that accompanies statements. You can also customize which colors are used to color code open-invoice listings on statements by invoice age. These choices are system-wide.

You have 4 statement templates to select from:

• Standard RB statement with a remittance section at the bottom of the statement
• Statement without a remittance section
• Statement with a credit card payment section that accepts American Express, MasterCard, and Visa
• Statement that accepts only MasterCard and Visa

You can also have RB automatically include both the client firm’s main phone number & fax number (if they have one) below the address on printed statements.

If you email clients their statements, you can customize the email that accompanies statements. Similarly to invoice emails set up in Billing preferences, you can change the default text in the Subject and Message fields and insert contextual data fields, so that real data from RB related to the billed contact and firm merge into the email automatically. You can also customize the appearance of the body of the emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables.

The statement itself will attach to the email as a PDF. And you can override the defaults set here in any statement emails sent from RB.

Color code the age of invoices listed on statements to help older invoices stand out. You select which colors to use for different time periods (over 30–over 180). You can export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

TL;DR: Customize the subject line of payment receipts, and set up templates for your company’s statements and the accompanying emails.

RB concepts in this lesson

Bill To Contact: The contact responsible for paying the invoice for a job.

Bill To Firm: The firm responsible for paying the invoice for a job.

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with, such as attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, claim adjusters, and court clerks.

Firm: Company you do business with.

Lesson #133

Setup – System Preferences function

Billing System Preferences

Choose an invoice template based on your company’s payment options, and set other billing options.

Invoice

Before invoicing clients set a start number and an invoice-posting alert, choose your default invoice template plus other invoice options, and customize the email that accompanies invoices. These choices are system-wide.

If starting RB or when you want to reset your invoice numbering system from now on, you can designate the next invoice number RB will use when it creates a new invoice.

You can also choose to have RB pop up an alert when posting an invoice if no Pay Rate is selected or the Pay Amount is 0. With this turned on you get a reminder to ensure that resources get paid for invoiced work if you overlooked it when creating the invoice.

Invoice templates to select from:

• Standard RB invoice with a remittance section at the bottom of the invoice
• Invoice without a remittance section
• Invoice with a credit card payment section that accepts American Express, MasterCard, and Visa
• Invoice that accepts only MasterCard and Visa

Other options you can set include:

• Have the word “Certified” appear before copy in invoice headers if you certify transcript copies.
• Give your clients job location information on invoices when the job location is included in your RB database.
• Have a red “PAST DUE” stamp printed on unpaid invoices that are older than your payment terms. (Set up payment terms in Lists.)
• Have RB automatically include both the client firm’s main phone number & fax number (if they have one) below the address on printed invoices.
• Have units appear as (Pages * Units) on invoices for service items set to “Use Pages for calculation.”
• Have “Split” appear in service item names on invoices for parties who opted to share the cost of a service item.

Customize invoice email template

If you email clients their invoices, you can customize the email that accompanies invoices. Similarly to job calendar cancellations and notifications, you can change the default text in the Subject and Message fields and insert contextual data fields so that real data from RB related to the job, case, and invoice merge into the email automatically.

If you have RB Connect, you can insert a pay invoice data field into the Email Message that converts into a hyperlink in the email, which when clicked, automatically sends the user to RB Connect. After the user logs in, the related invoice screen appears for a convenient payment process.

You can also customize the appearance of the body of the emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables. You can edit your email contents in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

The invoice itself will attach to the email as a PDF. And you can override the defaults set here in any invoice emails sent from RB.

LEDES 1998B

If you have clients that request electronic billing in LEDES 1998B format, RB9 exports invoices as text files. But if your clients require a different file type from TXT, you can change the default file extension to meet their specifications.

You can also set an option to exclude billed $0 amount service items in exported files, so electronic bills only include services that had billable charges.

NOTE: Export Invoices is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

Reward Points

If you want to offer clients an incentive program that awards points for services they order from your company (and your state allows it), turn on RB9’s Reward Points System. Then set the options for how your system generates and redeems points.

• Choose whether clients accumulate points for original invoices only or all orders.
• Set the default dollar amount billed on invoices that earns a point, e.g., every $100 billed earns 1 point.
• Select whether invoiced amounts will be rounded up, down, or split (amounts ending in 1–4 are rounded down, amounts ending in 5–9 are rounded up).
• Specify the multiplier RB9 will use to convert points to dollars when clients redeem points. You don’t have to use whole numbers, — you can use up to 2 decimal places — and the amount can be less than one.

After setting up your reward point options in System Preferences, you then designate which services earn points and set up individual contacts to earn points for bookings with your company. You can designate different and/or multiple contacts at the same firm to earn points for a contact’s bookings, and boost a contact’s points-earning ability by automatically doubling or otherwise multiplying their points. If you have RB Connect, you can allow contacts to request point redemptions online.

NOTE: Reward Points is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: Customize your invoices. Optionally, set up electronic billing and a booking reward system like a frequent flyer program.

RB concepts in this lesson

Reward Points: Used to encourage clients to book with your agency by rewarding them with points for different services. (Also referred to as award points.)

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with, such as attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, and legal assistants.

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources.

Lesson #131

Setup – System Preferences function

Calendar system preferences

The largest module in RB has the most customization options.

Assignment Cancellation

When you cancel a job, RB will ask if you want to notify the assigned resource of the canceled assignment. You can send Assignment Cancellations via text, email, and/or print. While the actual Assignment Cancellation form comes from the Form Templates function (where you can customize it and create additional ones to cover different situations), the accompanying email and text messages are customized in System Preferences.

You have 3 options for including the Assignment Cancellation form in the email. The recommended method is to embed the form in the email body and also attach a PDF version. That way the email’s body will contain the actual cancellation form. And if the resource needs a printable copy, they have the same form attached as a PDF. You can also just embed the form in the email body or attach it as a PDF file.

You can customize the default header and body of the email and the SMS (text) message. You can change the default text in the fields and insert contextual data fields, meaning that only data fields relevant to the cancellation are listed. Adding these fields allows real data from the job to merge into the email, so you don’t have enter any information as you send them. RB will merge the data from the job automatically.

If you are not embedding the form in the email body, you can also customize the appearance of the body of Assignment Cancellation emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables. You can edit your email contents in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup. (This only works if you are attaching the Assignment Cancellation as a PDF. If you embed the form in the email, it replaces any text in the Message field.)

You can override these defaults in any Assignment Cancellation emails sent from RB.

Assignment Notification

Typically, after you confirm your calendar for tomorrow’s jobs, you will email worksheets to assigned resources for tomorrow’s jobs. You can also send these Assignment Notifications via text and print. Plus you can include iCalendar entries and additional automatic file attachments, such as notices, in emailed notifications.

Like Assignment Cancellations, the Assignment Notification form comes from the Form Templates function, and System Preferences is where you set up the communications you use to send the form to your resources.

For emails and text messages notifying resources of assignments, you have the same options as for Assignment Cancellations. You can also include custom iCalendar entries using contextual data fields like the email and SMS options. If you choose to include iCalendar, RB will attach an .ics file to the email. When the assigned resource opens the file, they can save the job setting to their personal calendar.

If you have RB Connect, you can insert a special URL data field in emails, text messages, iCalendar entries — even the embedded worksheet form — so your resources can acknowledge jobs with one click. When resources click the link, it connects to your RB Calendar through your RB Connect to automatically set the task’s Acknowledged Date to the current date.

Attach repository files automatically

Assignment Notification emails can automatically include file attachments from the relevant firm, job, task, and case repositories, as well as the All-Resources repository. In System Preferences, you select which file types you want to include from these repositories. (File types are set up in Lists.) Then if any files matching these file types are uploaded to one of the repositories in the job being assigned, they will automatically attach to the Assignment Notification emails.

The All-Resources repository works a little differently from the other repositories. This is where you can upload files that you want all of your resources to have for their jobs — files like copy order forms, instructions, and blank billing sheets. Instead of uploading these generic files to every job in order for the resources to receive them when you send Assignment Notifications, upload them to the All-Resource Level Repository and set their file type to one that you select here in System Preferences so they are automatically included.

With each Assignment Notification email, you can automatically include all of the job files that your assigned resource will need for the job without having to individually attach specific files each time. And if you don’t want to include certain files on an assignment notification, you can delete those files before sending the email from the Mail Composer in RB.

Default Job Status

After you set up job status categories and select a default status in Lists, use this function to choose which statuses will be included as default Job Status search criteria for searching the job calendar in List View, Monthly View, and Weekly View. You can export this list as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Future Calendar

You can email clients a Future Calendar report when they request a copy of their upcoming schedule with you. The automatically generated PDF report will be attached to an email that you can customize like Assignment Notifications and Cancellations.

You can change the default text in the Subject and Message fields and insert contextual data fields so that real data from RB9 related to the client and job dates merge into the email automatically. You can also customize the appearance of the body of the emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables. You can edit your email contents in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

You can override these defaults in any Future Calendar emails sent from RB9.

NOTE: Send Future Calendar is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

Holidays

RB includes a list of all the major holidays observed in the U.S. You select the holidays your office observes and closes for on this list so those days are not calculated in the due days for your reporters to turn in their jobs. You can export this list as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Job Cancellation

When a client lets you know that a job is cancelled, you cancel it in RB and email a Job Cancellation notice to the ordering client confirming they cancelled a job on the calendar.

Like Assignment Cancellations, the Job Cancellation form comes from the Form Templates function, and System Preferences is where you set up the email you use to send the form to your contacts.

You have the same send methods for the Job Cancellation form: embedding the form in the email body, attaching it as a PDF file, or the recommended method (embedding the form in the email body and also attaching a PDF version). Likewise, you have the same formatting options as for Assignment Cancellations, and the ability to insert text and contextual data fields in the header and body of emails (except if you embed the Job Cancellation form in the email, it replaces any text in the Message field).

Job Confirmation

When a client schedules a job with you, you can send them a confirmation that you added the job to your calendar. Or maybe you wait and send out confirmations the day before a job to confirm tomorrow’s calendar. Either way you can customize the emails and optional iCalendar messages you send with the Job Confirmations. (You customize the Job Confirmation form and create alternative ones in the Form Templates function.)

Job Confirmation options are the same as Assignment Confirmation options except they are for email and iCalendar only. You choose how you want the Job Confirmation form included, add text and contextual data fields to headers and bodies of both emails and iCalendar entries, and format the appearance of the email body (if you do not embed the Job Confirmation in the email).

Similar to Assignment Confirmations, if you have RB Connect, you can insert a special URL data field in emails, iCalendar entries — even the embedded form — so your clients can go directly to the related Job detail screen when they click the link.

Job Status Automation

Job Status (e.g., New, In Progress, Billed) can update automatically when:

• A Job Confirmation is sent to the client.
• A resource is assigned to a task.
• An Assignment Notification is sent to a resource.
• A new shipment has been added.

You can select which Job Status each of these events will trigger. You can export this list of events as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Job Status Color

Jobs in RB main function screens like the Job Calendar or Turn In are color coded by Job Status. This way, at a quick glance, you can tell the current Job Status of a job without having to read its Job Status. You can customize the Job Status colors for both light/default mode (dark text on white background) and dark/reverse mode to suit your company.

You can define status colors by picking from a chart of pre-defined colors, entering a hexadecimal code, or selecting a hue on a rainbow scale and adjusting its lightness/darkness visually. You can export the list of default Job Status colors as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, or use in other applications.

Jobs (Monthly View)

You can customize what information appears in month-at-a-glance job calendars. Each job listed is identified by 2 pieces of job data, and you can select which types of job data are displayed. “Start Time” and “Firm Name” are recommended, but you can also choose to display by job number and witness name, or several other options.

If multiple jobs are scheduled on the same day, the month-at-a-glance calendar can list up to 10 a day. You can choose a different maximum number to appear in each day’s box on the calendar, from 3 to 10. (If more jobs are scheduled for a day than your maximum, they are included in the number in the bar at the bottom of the day’s box and are accessible by clicking the bar.)

Jobs (Weekly View)

You can set one of the job parameters that display in week-by-week job calendar listings. “Start Time” and “Job No.” are fixed data in weekly calendar entries and cannot be changed; but you can select the third type of information to appear on the weekly calendar to identify jobs.

You can also specify how many listings can appear in each workday’s space. If any day contains more listings than your specification, it will include a scroll bar so you can access the hidden jobs.

NOTE: Weekly View is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

New Job

By default, every new job saved in RB automatically includes a task of your default task type. (Default task type is set in Lists.) If you do not want RB to create a task automatically every time you save a job, you can disable this option.

If you want to reset your job numbering system from now on, you can designate the next job number RB will use when it creates a new job.

You can have RB display a warning when you create a new job for a firm that has overdue invoices. You select how many days past due and the minimum dollar amount past due for when the flag appears.

You can also set the default End Time for new jobs, which can you can change if needed when entering a job in the job calendar.

Overdue Tasks Report

You can email resources a report of their overdue tasks. The automatically generated PDF report will be attached to an email that you can customize like Assignment Notifications and Cancellations.

You can change the default text in the Subject and Message fields and insert contextual data fields in the email body, so that real data from the RB related to the resource and tasks merge into the email automatically. You can also customize the appearance of the body of the emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables. You can edit your email contents in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

You can override these defaults in any Overdue Tasks Report emails sent from RB.

Resource Blast

If you use Resource Blast to send out bulk emails and text messages to alert resources of immediate job opportunities like last-minute depos, you can customize the communications. Like Assignment Cancellations, you can insert text and contextual data fields in the header and body of emails and SMS messages, and format the text in the body of emails. You can override these defaults when sending any Resource Blast emails and text messages.

You can also designate the maximum number of resource email addresses to “blast” at a time, balancing your speed requirements with the security precautions of your resources’ mail servers. (Some servers perceive higher numbers sent at once as spam mail.)

NOTE: Resource Blast is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

Tasks (Monthly View)

You can customize what information appears in month-at-a-glance Task Calendars. Each job listed is identified by 2 pieces of data, and you can select which types of data are displayed — either “Job Number” or “Start Time” and either “Resource Assigned” or “Task Name.”

If multiple jobs have tasks that are scheduled on the same day, the month-at-a-glance calendar can list up to 10 a day. You can choose a different maximum number (3–10) to appear in each day’s box on the calendar. (If more jobs with tasks are scheduled for a day than your maximum, they are included in the number in the bar at the bottom of the day’s box and are accessible by clicking the bar.)

Time Zone

Select which time zones appear in Time Zone drop-downs in RB. Users select which time zone is their personal default in User Preferences from the list you create here. You can export this list as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Zoom

You can use RB to set up and host Zoom meetings. Set up a Zoom developer account, then enter your credentials here. Include your Zoom account settings and preferences, and customize your Zoom meeting invitation email so you can save time setting up Zoom when your job location is online. You can override any defaults when scheduling a Zoom meeting.

TL;DR: Set preferences for job calendar functions in Calendar preferences. Some preferences can be overridden by individual users in User Preferences.

RB concepts in this lesson

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with.

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >

Job Status: Stage a job is in, e.g., New or Cancelled.

Mail Composer: RB’s included email app for emailing contacts, resources, locations, and other RB users from within RB. You can customize the email contents and include attachments. You can send individual emails or send emails in batches.

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources, including interactive transcripts, downloadable invoices and e-commerce for clients, and online turn-in, one-touch job acknowledgements, and downloadable pay statements for resources. More >

Repository: RB has 9 repositories where you store files for safekeeping and quick retrieval. When you store files in a case, they are in RB’s Case Repository; when you store files in a job, they are in RB’s Job Repository; etc. If you have RB Connect, you can give clients and/or resources access to specific repository files.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters, videographers, or conference rooms.

Task: Service requested with a job, such as reporting, interpreting, or video, that require a separate resource (person, company, thing) to accomplish. More >

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB. Contacts and resources are entities — not users in RB — and access RB9 through RB Connect or RB Connect Mobile.

Lesson #130

Setup – System Preferences function

General system preferences

As the name implies, these are preferences for features that span more than one module or are basic to the system, like log in.

Email

Email is integrated into many RB functions. If you will be sending emails from RB, this is the one system preference that you are required to customize by entering your primary company email address settings. Other preferences can be customized at any time.

The Email preferences panel lists any email addresses already entered with the main email address selected as the default sender address for RB email. You can:

• Add email addresses.
• Change the default sender address.
• View, edit, delete, or test any listed email address.
• Export this list of email addresses that can be used systemwide as an Excel or CSV file to save, share, print, or use in other applications.

When entering a new email address, you can designate that it use either the standard email protocol or Microsoft 365 Office email protocol. If using the default email protocol, you must include the email server address and you can add security measures like SSL encryption of your email and SMTP authentication. If using a Microsoft 365 email account, you verify the account before using it because RB does not store your email’s password in the database.

The rest of the email setup is the address, user name, and any Bcc email addresses to include in emails by default; plus you can create a signature using formatted text, images, hyperlinks — even tables — that appends automatically to the end of your emails. You can edit your signature in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

After setting up an email address, you can test it within this same function to see if you have the correct settings for sending emails within RB from this address. You can also view the sent email to see if you want to make any changes to the signature.

General vs. personal email addresses

You do not have to enter every user’s email address in System Preferences. If your staff should use their own address when emailing from RB, they can set up their email address in User Preferences (preferences that affect their RB account only, not the entire system). Then, in most instances, their address will be the sender address when they send an email through RB.

If you have a small staff and want to have users share addresses, enter the addresses in System Preferences, not User Preferences. Then they can use the default company email address or choose any of the other addresses as the sender when sending an email.

Email & RB Connect

Another reason to set up email accounts in System Preferences is if you have RB Connect. All RB Connect calendar communications for the contact side of RB Connect will be sent from the email account listed as the default in the System Preferences.

Or you can designate one of the other General email addresses as the source for auto confirmations and cancellations that are sent to clients regarding RB Connect job schedulings. This is so in case a client responds to the auto confirmation email they receive, their response needs to go to a validated email account. Set this up in RB Connect General Preferences.

Forgot Password Email

If one of your users forgets their RB password, they can request a new password from the sign-in screen. RB will automatically send them an email so they can reset their password. You can change the default text of the header and body of this email.

You can automatically insert relevant RB data with contextual data fields for who requested the reset, when they requested it, and the link to reset their password. You can also customize the appearance of the body of the email with text formatting, images, color, hyperlinks, and tables.

License Info

In these section, find information about your RB licenses and other product information. It contains:

• Your RB product code
• Your current number of paid-for user licenses, which you can increase or decrease at any time
• Date your RB licenses will expire if not renewed
• Version of RB software you are using — you can request to change your version (Standard RB9 or RB Lite) here
• Web address of your RB
• Entity your RB is licensed to
• Amount in gigabytes of storage you are currently using for your RB repository
• Number of files in your RB repository
• Any plug-ins you currently subscribe to are checked in the Active column of this pane (you can export this list as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications)
• Any RB custom programming you have is listed in this pane (you can export this list as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications)
• Billing information including history, individual invoices, and your credit card(s) you have authorized to pay your RB subscription with. You can also pay overdue invoices and any prorated amount for increased user licenses here.

Login

RB follows general security rules for business application user log-ins. You can change some of these security features. In System Preferences, you can:

• Protect user accounts from hacking attempts by selecting a set amount of incorrect login attempts before RB locks out the user. Single-system users can select the “Never locked out” option.
• Require complex passwords that contain a number, lowercase letter, capital letter, and symbol.
• Force users to reset their password periodically. You can set the duration to every 30, 60, 90, or 180 days before RB users must change their password.
• If you require users to change their password periodically, you can allow them to keep the same password when they update their password.
• Use email addresses as the log-in name for all of your user accounts, instead of custom log-in names. With custom log-in names, users can change their log-in names, but everyone must have a unique log-in name. They do not have that option with email addresses.
• If you choose email addresses as the log-in name above, you can give users the option to log in using their social media accounts: Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, or Microsoft.
• Require users to verify their identity upon RB sign-in with a second factor in addition to their user name and password. A verification code will be sent to the user’s preferred method of communication, which they must then enter into RB before accessing the site. Authentication is per device, and users can decide to authenticate a device once or every time they sign in on that device.

Notifications and Messages

You can select 30, 60, 90, or 180 days for how long RB will keep old messages in the Sent Message and Trash folders in the system’s message center before deleting them.

Session Timeout

Because RB is web based, you can work anywhere you have a web browser and internet connection. However, RB stores sensitive data — including information about your business units, accounting, contacts, and resources — so it will automatically log you off after staying inactive for a set period of time to deter prying eyes from compromising any sensitive data. It is exactly like how online banking sites sign you off after a predetermined length of inactive time.

The default is that you are automatically logged out of RB after 20 minutes of inactivity, but you can change the session timeout. You can set the interval at any 5-minute increment from 5 minutes to 60 minutes. Your changes will take place the next time you log in. Since this is a system preference, all users will be affected, including contacts and resources that use RB Connect, the next time they log in.

Since RB does not automatically save your information when it logs you out, it’s a good idea to set an interval that balances security with your work processes, and to let other users know what the interval is so they remember to save their work periodically.

SMS

Select the third party vendor you want to use in RB9 to send text messages from within RB. Then enter your account credentials and related phone number.

System Time

Set your RB job clock to the time zone that your company is in. (The list of time zones is set in Calendar System Preferences.) Users can select a different default time zone for jobs they schedule in User Preferences.

You can also set the system to automatically adjust the job clock for Daylight Saving Time.

TL;DR: Set preferences for aspects of RB that impact multiple modules or the entire system in General preferences. Some preferences can be overridden by individual users in User Preferences.

RB concepts in this lesson

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately, such as branch offices, other companies you own, affiliates, and profit-sharing operations.

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with.

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources.

Repository: RB has 9 repositories where you store files for safekeeping and quick retrieval. When you store files in a case, they are in RB’s Case Repository; when you store files in a job, they are in RB’s Job Repository; etc. If you have RB Connect, you can give clients and/or resources access to specific repository files.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters.

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.

Lesson #129

Setup – System Preferences function

RB comes with default options for its different functions. Some cannot be altered but generally you can customize functions to fit your company by editing, adding, and deleting options. System Preferences is where you set global options for different features in your RB system.

These global preference settings are used throughout your RB system by all users. You must be part of the Administrators group to change System Preference settings.

System preferences can be customized at any time. The only one you need to set before using RB is entering your company’s email settings in General > Email if you will be sending emails from RB.

Options you can customize in System Preferences include:

• Company email address(es)
• Text of “Forgot Password” emails
• Upgrade to Standard or downgrade to Lite editions of RB9. This feature is only available to Administrators.
• Which credit card to use for your RB subscription payments. You can also view your billing history and pay overdue invoices.
• How many Named User Licenses access your RB9
• Login security — such as requiring strong passwords and 2FA verification
• How long RB saves messages sent internally
• How long a period of inactivity allowed before RB logs a user off automatically
• Company time zone default & other time zones to select
• Job confirmations & cancellations
• Task assignments & cancellations
• Job statuses displayed as calendar search options
• Future calendar emails
• Holidays observed
• Job & task calendar view options
• Job status colors
• Job status automatic updates
• New job defaults
• Overdue tasks emails
• Resource Blast (last minute job announcement emails & texts) contents and defaults
• Zoom account settings, preferences, and other customizations
• Envelope printing specs
• FedEx & UPS account information
• Repository publishing default & use tracking options
• RB Digital Signature Proxy settings
• Invoices, statements, and payment receipts & related emails’ contents and other invoice options
• LEDES 1998B exported files
• Reward points
• Pay statements & related emails’ contents
• Payment wait periods
• 1099 Form & check printing
• Direct deposit payment settings
• Default settings for new firms, contacts, & resources
• QuickBooks settings
• Company contact information for RB Network membership
• Email Logs tracking

System Preferences sections

With so many options to describe each section is broken out into a separate lesson:

• General
• Calendar
• Production
• Billing
• Receivables
• Payables
• Entities
• Tools

System Preferences vs. Lists

RB separates out list customization from other system preferences. If you want different options in a list you would make those changes in the Lists function. All other options are grouped by module under System Preferences.

Some System Preferences options work with Lists — such as the file types you can have RB automatically attach to assignment notifications. They are generated in Lists under Repository, which you can then select from in System Preferences under Calendar.

Personal preferences

Some system preferences can be overridden by personal preferences set by individual users. Preferences that only affect your individual RB setup are available under User Preferences.

TL;DR: Use RB’s default options or customize these systemwide options to match your company.

RB concepts in this lesson

Administrator: RB user who has access to and control of all areas of RB. You can have any number of RB administrators but each RB system must have at least one administrator. Administrator rights include setting up user accounts, assigning users to groups (which authorize what actions users can perform in RB and what kinds of notifications and messages they receive), and setting global system preferences.

ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy (RB-DSP): Free digital signatures for reporters and agencies that agencies apply to RB-PDF Transcripts. Reporters retain control of their signatures while agencies are able to apply the signatures through their normal production process. More >

RB-PDF Transcript: PDF version of a transcript with built-in transcript-specific features. More >

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.

Lesson #123

Setup – Invoice Messages function

In addition to the descriptive header that appears automatically on invoices, you can add more information to your invoices, such as detailed payment information, company info, and holiday greetings, with custom messages. While you can write messages on invoices as you generate them, you can also save time and ensure consistency by setting up messages in advance in the Invoice Messages function, then simply apply them to individual invoices or in batches.

Customize your invoice messages

You can include any written communications you want to share with clients on your invoices. By creating invoice messages for different circumstances, you can easily give your clients more information when they need it, such as invoice payment options, or to let them know you appreciate them, extend an appropriate holiday greeting, share company news, etc.

You create and group messages in a similar way to invoice headers. Designate which message is the default to minimize the need to select messages each time when invoicing. You can override the default and modify the message on individual invoices during Turn In. You can stylize the appearance of invoice messages with bold/italic/underline treatments, different typefaces, font sizes, and colors.

Creating new messages is easy. They only require a message group, and optionally the message (you can have a blank message if you want). Message groups are categories, which you set up in Lists, for organizing messages to make it easier to locate the desired message when billing by looking within a subgroup instead of the whole list.

When creating a message, the message group defaults to the system default (selected in Lists), so you might only need to enter the content. Message size is unlimited, and you can style the text with font weights, typefaces, colors, and other text treatments.

If you are creating multiple messages in one sitting, use the Save & New option to stay in the new message window, eliminating extra clicks to get back into the window. It will also keep the same message group you used in the last invoice message saved rather than resetting to the default, so that could also save you time. For example if you are setting up a batch of holiday messages you won’t have select that message group before entering each holiday message.

Manage existing messages

You can update existing messages or create new messages at any time. You can change which message is your default at anytime, such as for different holidays. You can delete messages you don’t need anymore so they no longer appear as an option when selecting invoice messages during Turn In.

Messages are stored in the Invoice Messages function, and the default lists all of your stored messages by Invoice Message Group. You can also view the list for a single group or multiple selected groups. Export the list to an Excel or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications. Click any message’s hyperlink to edit or delete it.

Apply messages to invoices

When preparing invoices, your default invoice message appears. You can override the default by entering new text or selecting a different invoice message from your custom list. You can apply messages to invoices one at a time or in batches. Use the Save & New feature to apply different invoice messages to single or multiple invoices without leaving the Set Invoice Messages panel in Turn In.

TL;DR: Save time and ensure consistency by setting up invoice messages in advance, then apply them to individual invoices or in batches.

RB concepts in this lesson

Message Group: Parent structure that contains related invoice messages as its children.

Lesson #122

Setup – Invoice Headers function

Invoices in RB include a short descriptive title called the invoice header. Standard invoice headers are automatically generated based on the service items you select for each witness listed on an invoice. If the standard headers aren’t accurate enough to cover your billing requirements, you can create your own invoice headers.

You can enter your own headers on the fly as you generate invoices. Or if you think you will be reusing the same headers, set them up in the Invoice Headers function. Then you can quickly select the correct header for a witness from a drop-down when generating invoices — saving time and reducing errors.

Create & organize headers

Create as many invoice headers as you need to cover all of your business’s different billing circumstances. If you have multiple custom headers, organize them into Header Groups. Header Groups are categories of invoice headers, and are set up in Lists. By organizing your custom headers into header groups, you will save time locating one when billing.

Creating new headers is easy. They only require the header content and header group. The header group defaults to the system default (selected in Lists), so you might only need to enter the content.

If you are creating multiple headers in one sitting, use the Save & New option to stay in the new header window, eliminating extra clicks to get back into the window. It will also keep the same header group you used in the last invoice header saved rather than resetting to the default, so that could also save you time.

You can add, edit, or delete invoice headers at any time. Headers are stored in the Invoice Header function, and the default lists all of your stored headers by Invoice Header Group. You can also view the list for a single group or multiple selected groups. Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

You can update the header content and/or header group for any custom invoice header. Or delete it if you don’t need it anymore.

Using custom invoice headers

After entering billing information to invoices in Turn In is when you would add custom invoice headers. You can apply the same custom header to multiple invoices at once. And use the Save and New feature to apply different invoice headers to different invoices without leaving the Set Invoice Headers panel in Turn In for greater efficiency. Custom headers are listed in the drop-down by their invoice group, so you can quickly find the correct header by looking within its group only.

TL;DR: If RB’s default invoice headers are not enough, create and save your own custom headers to apply during Turn In.

RB concepts in this lesson

Header Group: Parent structure that contains related invoice headers as its children.

Lesson #121

Setup – Pay Dates function

When setting up your RB system and then at the beginning of each year, set up the year’s pay dates and their corresponding cutoff dates (last date for invoices to be included in pay) for each time period you use to pay resources (e.g., monthly, weekly, etc.). By setting up pay dates in advance you can reduce the number of payroll errors caused by entering the wrong date when running payroll.

View existing pay dates

The Pay Dates function defaults to all pay dates entered this year. Each pay date listing shows the date, Pay Group (different time periods you use to pay resources, e.g., monthly, weekly, etc.), cut-off date, and the date the payroll was closed. You can either add dates to the current year or change the year — if you want to enter next year’s pay dates for example.

When viewing the list of pay dates, you can sort the list by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Pay dates & cutoff dates

When you enter a new pay date, you also enter the last date for invoices to be included in pay, i.e., the cutoff date. RB calculates resource payment cutoff dates using invoice dates by default. But you can also use the date invoices are paid as the cutoff date for specific resources or all resources paid for jobs tied to one or more of your company’s business units (BUs). This preference is set in individual resource listings (under Original Term and Copy Term) and your BU listings.

You further define pay dates by selecting which Pay Group you are paying and which BUs’ jobs are included. You can include a description of the pay date listing and other notes.

Designate responsible business unit

If you have multiple BUs, you can also designate which BU will be responsible for issuing 1099s for this pay date. Instead of having to create pay date listings for each of your BUs, you can include multiple BUs in one pay date listing, and designate one BU to be responsible for issuing all related 1099s. It doesn’t have to be the BU tied to the jobs being paid for, and the default is your main office.

You can have multiple pay date listings on the same calendar date — or if every Pay Group will have the same cutoff date and BU(s), you can set one pay date for all groups.

Correcting errors

If you made a mistake setting up a pay date, you can delete it if payroll for that date has not been closed yet. Otherwise, you can make a note in the pay date’s Remarks field for future reference.

TL;DR: Set up pay dates for different pay periods (and different business units in your company, if desired).

RB concepts in this lesson

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately — such as branch offices, other companies you own, affiliates, and profit-sharing operations.

Cutoff Date: Last date for invoices to be included in a pay date. Default is the date of the invoice, but you can use the date invoices were paid for a single resource or all resources tied to a business unit/multiple BUs in your company.

Pay Groups: Categories of time periods your company uses to pay resources, e.g., Monthly, Weekly, On Demand. Group resources according to their pay period (frequency) to reduce errors when running payroll.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters.

Lesson #120

Setup – Billing Sets function

Group service items into sets to speed up billable services selection because you only have to choose the set, not each of the items individually.

A Billing Set is a predetermined group of service items that are typically billed together. By configuring these sets, you can add service items en masse to an invoice to streamline the billing process. This eliminates the need to add service items one-by-one, as well as reduces the possibility of overlooking any service items when billing.

There is no limit to the number of service items you can add to a set, and it’s not a requirement to bill for each service item in a set. The purpose of a Billing Set is to select multiple service items to add at once to an invoice from a concise selection pool, rather than having to scroll through your entire service item list to pick each one individually.

Create as many sets as you need

Set up multiple Billing Sets to further streamline your billing process because you can group service items based on what the job is asking for, and you won’t have to deal with service items you may not need. For example, you can make a Billing Set for standard court reporting jobs, one for video depositions, and another one for video conferences. This way, you can pull up the set that’s specifically tailored to your job type and not have to deal with any unnecessary service items.

Other common Billing Sets you might want would be a list of services commonly included when clients order an O&1 package, and another set for copy clients. You can have as many Billing Sets as you like and choose one to be the default option when generating invoices. You can include descriptions and other notes in your Billing Sets to help you keep them organized.

Add all related services to a set

You can add any of your service items to a Billing Set and set a default number of units for each service item. Put all of the possible service items that could apply to a particular set in the set because it is easier to uncheck the ones you don’t need for a specific order so they are not added to the invoice at that time, than it is to not have enough service items in the Billing Set and have to add service items to an order one at a time. Even adding just one or two service items to an invoice individually will slow you down.

For example, include all of your delivery options in your O&1 Billing Set. Then simply uncheck the ones you won’t be using for a particular order when generating its invoice.

Using Billing Sets at Turn In

When adding services to invoices in Turn In, use the Prefill Service option to access your Billing Sets. It will also show any of the contact’s/firm’s Preferred Services, so you can select all the ordered services and update the number of units ordered for each service in one screen. Once you have added billable services to an invoice, you can edit each service item as needed and arrange their order of appearance on the invoice.

If you have RB Connect, you can give your resources access to any of your Billing Sets so they can also save time during Turn In by adding multiple service items at a time, instead of one by one.

Manage sets

You can update any information in a Billing Set at any time or delete it if you don’t need it. The default view of Billing Sets lists all of your sets and shows which is the default and which ones are accessible to your resources through RB Connect. If your list is too long to easily find a particular set, you can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order) or search for the Billing Set by name.

You can export your Billing Set list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications  You can also sort and export an individual Billing Set’s list of service items.

TL;DR: Instead of adding service items one at a time to invoices, set up groups of related services so you can add multiple items at once.

RB concepts in this lesson

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with, such as attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, claim adjusters, and court clerks.

Firm: Company you do business with. They schedule depositions with you, e.g., a law firm, or they are a third party that pays you, e.g., an insurance company.

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters.

Lesson #119

Setup – Pay Rates function

Pay Rates are the amounts you pay resources for services. These rates are organized into tables, so you can easily pay different resources different amounts for the same services by applying different pay rate tables instead of entering pay amounts manually.

Before using pay rate tables, group them for easier searching. By organizing pay rate tables into groups of similar tables, you can search through a subset of your pay rate tables instead of the whole long list of tables each time you invoice a client. These groups are called Pay Rate Groups. Set up the groups for different categories of resources first, then your pay rate tables.

Set up Pay Rate Groups first

Similar to Billing Rate Groups, it is important to set up Pay Rate Groups prior to creating any pay rate tables, otherwise you will encounter organization issues. Pay Rate Groups categorize resources, such as by experience levels, percentage, or affiliates, and will allow you to create the umbrella structure to categorize your pay rates under. Pay Rate Groups are set up in the Lists function.

For each Pay Rate Group, set up as many pay rate tables as you need.

Add as many pay rates as you need

After setting up Pay Rate Groups, use this function to enter your pay rate tables in the appropriate group. Then, when billing, you only have to scroll through the rate tables in one of these smaller groups, instead of your entire list of rate tables.

You can set up pay rate tables in 2 ways: From scratch or from an existing table. Copying and updating an existing table is a quicker way to create a new table because the existing table’s rates and details are duplicated in the new table for you to update.

Pay Rates contain the earning amounts for all of your service items. Agencies often have multiple pay rates set up to accommodate specific needs. Pay rates can be based on negotiations with resources, networking rates with other agencies, rates based on the difficulty of jobs, etc.

Every pay rate table you create in RB will automatically inherit all service items set up in the Service Item Master. Before setting up your pay rate tables, complete the Service Item Master setup first. The Service Item Master is where all of the service items are stored, along with their default pay rates and other preliminary settings, which are automatically inherited by any new pay rate table, when created from scratch.

For each pay rate table, you must name it and assign it to a Pay Rate Group. You designate a default Pay Rate Group in the Lists function, but you can select a different group here if the new pay rate table should be in a different category.

Give each table a clearly specific name, something you will recognize and know what it pertains to. The name is what you are going to see when you are selecting a rate:

• As your default pay rate for a specific resource.
• During the Turn In/Billing process for a specific invoice.

So the name is important because it will help you and your billing staff decide when to use this pay rate table.

When you set up a new pay rate table, either from scratch or copied from another table, all of the service items will appear in the table. You can customize the pay rate and other pay information for any of the service items. If there are service items that the resource should not get paid for, simply set the pay rate to $0.

In addition to each service item’s pay rate, you can also customize:

• The minimum amount you pay resources for this item.
• Whether you pay your resources for the service item using a flat rate ($) scale or percentage (%).
•  If the pay amount for this service item will have the Expedite (Rush) amount added to it.

Set up rush rates before billing & pay rate tables

If you set up your Rush Type Master before setting up individual billing and pay rate tables, your default rush rates from this master template will automatically fill in when you create an individual rate table. Setting up rush rates as an add-on to billing and pay rates reduces the number of billing and pay rate tables you need to have.

You can override rush defaults in individual rate tables, if needed, such as the Rush Type’s name, whether you pay it using a flat rate ($) scale or percentage (%), and the amount. The amount will be in addition to the base pay rate of the transcript. You can also include any relevant notes or comments in a pay rate table.

Managing pay rate tables

You can update any information in a pay rate table at any time, except its Pay Rate Group. You can delete any pay rate table that hasn’t been used. If you can’t delete a table that you no longer use, you can de-activate it so it does not appear in lists. And you can update rates in multiple pay rate tables at once in the Service Item Master.

To find a pay rate table to copy, update, delete, or de-activate, you can search your entire set of pay rate tables, or narrow your search to a specific Pay Rate Group and/or pay rate table name. You can also choose to search all tables or only active tables. RB lists the results by Pay Rate Group, and includes each table’s name and its Active status.

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications. You can also export the service item and rush type lists in each pay rate table.

Using pay rates

You can include default pay rates and options in your billing rate tables, then set up pay rate tables for all of your other pay rate situations, such as for resources who earn higher amounts for the same jobs. The pay rates in your billing rate tables will be automatically applied to invoices unless you also designate a pay rate table for an invoice, which will then supersede your default pay rate settings.

If a resource is always paid at the same pay rate for all the jobs they take, select that pay rate table in their individual entity listing. Setting the default pay rate for a resource will make it so that RB will generate that resource’s pay for every job using the same rate. The default pay rate can be overridden at the time of billing.

When finalizing invoices, you apply pay rates after you apply billing rates. If you have default pay rates included in your billing rates, you might not have to apply the separate pay rate tables if the pay rates in your billing rates are accurate for the job being billed.

When generating invoices for multiple parties on a single job, you can apply pay rates individually or in batches to the invoices.

If you apply the wrong pay rate on an invoice, you can correct the resource’s pay using the Override Resource Pay function if you haven’t paid the resource yet.

If you made a mistake setting up pay rate tables or there is a change in pay rates, you can update rates and/or options in multiple pay rate tables at once in the Service Item Master.

TL;DR: Easily pay different resources different amounts for the same services by assigning them to different pay rate tables. Apply the appropriate pay rate tables to invoices. You can override specific pay rates in any invoice.

RB concepts in this lesson

Billing Rate Groups: Umbrella structures aimed at categorizing your billing rates. Instead of one long list of billing rates, Billing Rate Groups create a series of shorter lists to search through when invoicing clients.

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >

Pay Rate Groups: Umbrella structures aimed at categorizing the rates you pay resources, such as by experience levels, percentage paid on services, or affiliates. Instead of one long list of pay rates, Pay Rate Groups create a series of shorter lists to search through when invoicing clients.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters or a conference room.